Image of One Tail, One Head courtesy of Black Dog Publishing
I never read about music these days. As a teen, I pretty much used to only read about music.
But when I came across Black Metal: Beyond the Darkness from Black Dog Publishing, something about it just popped and I really wanted to read it if only just to harken back to the good ole days of my wayward and angst riddled youth.
I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of black metal, just incredibly intrigued. Growing up in the Baptist church in the American South and dealing with boring old meddling adults harping at me about Satanism in rock ‘n’ roll created just the sort of taboo effect you might imagine it would have on a rebellious teen such as I was: I starting listening to all sorts of dark and disturbing music that I probably never would have otherwise gravitated toward.
Most of it sucked, but all of it fascinated. And to this day, I still love things that are absurd to the extent that I ask myself “Oh shit, they’re not serious are they?” I think there’s an unholy heap of just that sort of posturing going in the black metal scene. I mean any guy who wears a lot of make up, spits fake blood and names himself something along the lines of Abbath Doom Occulta is just putting on a show for the shear sake of putting on a show, right? Whatever the case, he and his demonic cohorts are worth at least a quick ponder, in my opinion. I mean, what’s their beef?
As so much of this music scene is/was centred in Scandinavia, I’ve wondered if a considerable amount of its morbid edge and the Satanic subject matter can be boiled down to a bad case Seasonal Affective Disorder and simply having to endure long, dark boring winters indoors? But then, as the title implies, this book looks beyond the Nordic roots of black metal. Indeed it even questions a number of assumptions about how this music and subculture took shape.
To swipe a blurb from the Black Metal back cover, the book offers …
… a new focus on a number of the form’s lesser-reported international scnes; developments in the sellign and distriubtion of Black Metal through labels, stores and distros; idiosyncratic aesthetics and inherent notions of theatricality; Black Metal’s relationship with the world of Fine Art; and oral recollections of the genre’s development, amongst other topics.
It also comes chocked full of awesome low rez photos, effed up album covers and logos and all sorts of spooky – and sometimes downright goofy – ephemera that both ardent fans and flippant gawkers (and those who straddle both ends of the spectrum) should find completely absorbing. I did. And it’s worth leafing through just to scope all the blasphemous band names: Abruptum, Rotting Christ, Moonspell, Cradle of Filth, Satanic Warmaster … I known it’s only rock ‘n’ roll but it kinda creeps me out.
Black Metal Beyond the Darkness demands a mandatory reading from any true adherents of this weird offshoot of heavy metal. For the black metal curious, it provides a fun and informative opportunity to flirt with so called evil.
Sound like your kind of read? It would certainly make an unusually provactive Christmas gift. As with Black Dog Publishing’s foodie titles, you can get a friendly little tikichris discount when you order this book and mention my blog. To get 40% off the price (£19.95/$29.95) all ya gotta do is email patrick@blackdogonline.com and write TIKICHRIS in the subject of your message. That’s so cool.
